6000 Year Old Baby Rattle Found

A baby rattle has been found in the Kültepe Kaniş-Karum trade colony, where excavations have been continuing since 1948 in the central Anatolian province of Kayseri.

A team from Ankara University Archaeology Department, headed by Professor Fikri Kulakoğlu, has been working in the area and unearthed the rattle, which dates back to 4,000 B.C.

Kulakoğlu said works had been continuing there for 69 years. He said, “Archaeological excavations have been carried out in Kültepe since 1948. Here it is possible to find what we [commonly] find in houses today. [We have found] Pots and pans, glasses, oven, seats and etc. We have seen all of these things in the excavations for nearly 70 years. There are also very interesting objects. We have found a toy, which we estimate to date back to 6,000 years ago, being the oldest in the world.”

The professor said more than 50,000 people were living in Kültepe 4,000 years ago, adding, “There are very fine objects from a big metropolitan. We sometimes think the population was above 70,000. Some of them were Assyrians, but most of were Anatolians. Of course, not all of them were adults. Among them are young people, children and babies. We naturally found objects that we associate with babies. For example, one of them is a rattle. It is made of kiln and has pebbles inside. It makes a sound when it is shaken just like baby rattles we all know today.”